the constructivist moment
the
constructivist moment
FROM MATERIAL TEXT TO CULTURAL POETICS
BARRETT WATTEN
Published by
Wesleyan University Press,
Middletown, CT 06459
© 2003 by Barrett Watten
All rights reserved
Printed in United States of America
5 4 3 2 1
Library of Congress
Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Watten, Barrett.
The constructivist moment : from material text to cultural poetics /
Barrett Watten.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 0-8195-6609-8 (alk. paper)—ISBN 0-8195-6610-1
(pbk. : alk. paper)
1. American literature—20th century—History and criticism. 2. Avant-garde (Aesthetics)—United States—History—20th century. 3. Avant-garde (Aesthetics)—Soviet Union—History—20th century. 4. Russian literature—20th century—History and criticism. 5. Literature, Comparative—American and Russian. 6. Literature, Comparative—Russian and American. 7. American literature—Russian influences. 8. Constructivism (Russian literature) I. Title.
PS159.R8W38 2003
810.9′1—dc21 2003001153
FOR ASA
I see plans of a house in stages of construction. Workmen move across bare frames in open light. —”Paralleles”
CONTENTS
Introduction: From Material Text to Cultural Poetics
CHAPTER 1: New Meaning and Poetic Vocabulary: From Coleridge to Jackson Mac Low
CHAPTER 2: The Secret History of the Equal Sign: L=A=N=G=U=A=G=E between Discourse and Text
CHAPTER 3: The Bride of the Assembly Line: Radical Poetics in Construction
CHAPTER 4: The Constructivist Moment: From El Lissitzky to Detroit Techno
CHAPTER 5: Nonnarrative and the Construction of History: An Era of Stagnation, the Fall of Saigon
CHAPTER 6: Negative Examples: Theories of Negativity in the Avant-Garde
CHAPTER 7: Post-Soviet Subjectivity in Arkadii Dragomoshchenko and Ilya Kabakov